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“Sipdown! (181) Since i’ll be away from my cupboard for a few days and don’t feel like going through the hassle of packing up a tea basket and such since i’m only bringing a small...”
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“I get my vanilla from Penzey’s, & when you get to the bottom of the vanilla bottle, there is harp of a vanilla bean in there. The main thing I used vanilla for is almond flour pancakes,...”
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“I’m drinking this today basically because cats are jerks. Mine woke me up 5 times this morning by meowing in the hallway. Every time I came out she ran into our room for purrs and cuddles,...”
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From Andrews & Dunham Damn Fine Tea

By now, it should be abundantly clear that we’re suckers for a nice Assam tea. And why not? Thomas has done nothing but impress, and the Captain still draws us in with his lengthy yarns. (Where’s he been lately, anyway?)

We are delighted to offer you this Tiger, our latest Assam tea. It’s resilient yet refined, gentle yet ass-kicking, crouching yet leaping. Prepare it any way you like and it’ll taste great. Forget it on the counter? Brew it a little hastily in a travel mug? It’ll still taste great. Tigers are like that. They don’t get discouraged. They don’t have off days. They deliver 100% tiger, at all times.

Tigers don’t tolerate weak tea, nor should you.

We like to brew this black tea from Assam for four minutes in boiling water. It’s great first thing in the morning. Or after breakfast, maybe with a little milk and a friendly chat. Over brew it a bit and mix in some ice after lunch. Think about trying another beverage with dinner, tigers need their sleep after all.

Andrews & Dunham knows that nothing beats a perfect cup of tea, and a great tea needs no explanation. We love the romance of tea. We love that tea might just be the healthiest thing you’ll ever drink. But if the tea you’re drinking doesn’t taste fantastic, you’re missing out. Only a few teas meet our mysterious, rigorous standards and we’re proud to offer them to you. We’re always looking for that perfect cup, so you don’t have to.

178 Tasting Notes

Sipdown! (181) Since i’ll be away from my cupboard for a few days and don’t feel like going through the hassle of packing up a tea basket and such since i’m only bringing a small suitcase, i’m enjoying a few teas today as well as getting in a couple sipdowns. I fulle expect tea to show up while i’m away so i need to make sure not coming home to 200+ teas. At least i still have 3 weeks to get to 150. :)

I added a slice of orange to this one today since lala’s done that on a few occasions and i thought it would be fun to experiment with my last cup. It’s adding just a bit of sweetness, along with the orange to this cup and turning it into something entirely different and yet just as deliciously good! Maybe i’ll try a few others like that today heh…maybe.

I get my vanilla from Penzey’s, & when you get to the bottom of the vanilla bottle, there is harp of a vanilla bean in there. The main thing I used vanilla for is almond flour pancakes, so I usually squeeze out the seeds into the batter. Today I dropped the bean into my cup of this tea, just for fun.

At first I thought it might be a fail: I could smell the remaining alcohol from the vanilla, but I let it sit for a few, added a little sweetening, & it was damn right tasty! We had pancakes, so this made for an after breakfast treat.

boychik, I’m totally open for that! Feel free to check out my cupboard to see if you’d like something(s) in return :)
On the other hand, when it comes up on their site, it will also be an insta-buy for me, as I can’t resist those damn fine teas!

I’m drinking this today basically because cats are jerks. Mine woke me up 5 times this morning by meowing in the hallway. Every time I came out she ran into our room for purrs and cuddles, and then an hour later she was at it again.

My cat’s a jerk too. I finally caved and bought an electric mat to put in front of my bedroom door. I feel terribly guilty about it, but it worked miracles overnight. I hear tell there are air blasters which have about the same effect.

We have 2 cats, & by ‘we’ I mean Leif & Ari. Gizmo, Leif’s cat, is fairly innocuous. Squishy, on the other hand, likes to do things to intentionally piss me off. I do not allow cats in my bedroom, ever, because I can’t stand to have cat hair on me, & for some reason cats always want to piss on my pillow. I guess they want to mark my room as their territory (none of the current cats have ever actually done that, but previous ones have). So neither of our cats have ever been in my room, although Squishy tries, regularly, to get in there. Not ever gonna happen!

Terri – that sounds like quite the challenge. Are they boy cats? I’ve never had to worry about her peeing, thankfully!

And she is totally allowed in our room – we even sleep with the door open (so the cat and the toddler can both wander in), but the cat mist be playing hard to get or something as she cries outside for attention. (Stupid cat – just come in and cuddle! )

Also my cat peed on my mom’s duffel bag that she lent me. It probably smelled like her dog and so my cat was marking his territory. Another time though he got mad that I took away his food (he overeats sometimes) and peed where his food goes.

Once upon a time I had a friend named Suz who raised silver persians. She really wanted to give me one of her kittens, which were very expensive. I told her no thanks because I wear black to gigs all the time & the silver fur would show on my clothes. The truth is, I didn’t want a cat. She had farmed one of her cats out for stud service, & a gal who raised black smoke persians owed her a pick of the litter. Next thing you know, Suz gives me a black smoke kitten for my birthday, who I named Opal. I didn’t really want a cat, but what do you say? “Thank You”. Opal was beautiful & dumb as a post. Except she was smart enough to figure out how to get out the doggy door before I had a chance to have her spayed. End of part I

Part II
Opal had a litter of kittens, & we found homes for 4 of them, but Leif begged to keep Gizmo, so we did. Opal disappeared.
Ari’s cat Squishy is a cat she got for her son, but then she moved into an apartment that didn’t allow cats, so squishy moved in with me. Now Ari & Ky live at home too, & so really, I guess he’s Ky’s cat.

Part III
Gizmo is a boy. Squishy is a girl. I don’t hate cats. I’m just not into them. They tend to irritate me, I can feel their hair touching me. The cats I have now don’t pee on my things, but in the past I’ve had cats that did. I’m a dog lover, especially big dogs. I don’t have a dog right now, but I love dogs. They are awesome.

OMG! I am completely in love with this tea! Yes … yes … yes! (Imagine Meg Ryan in probably her most popular scene ever there)

As I am sitting here slurping on this tea, I tried to think of an Assam tea that I might have enjoyed as much as I’m enjoying this … and only one comes to mind. (And that would be No. 49 from Steven Smith … and I just left that store about two hours ago without some of my beloved Assam, what was I thinking? I was too excited over the other, new teas that I had not yet tried that I had forgotten to restock No. 49 and No. 55)

Anyway… this is amazing. It is a strong Assam… rich, malty and flavorful. It will assuredly kick your butt right out of “sleep” mode and into get-up-and-get-em mode. It starts out smooth and caramel-y, and there is a fair amount of astringency to this that slowly dries the palate after the sip. But, I don’t find the astringency to be out of bounds or too much. It is the perfect finishing touch to this really robust Assam.

Everything about this Tiger is amazing. What else should I have expected from Andrews & Dunham. They rock.

@Terri: You really should try their teas. I also loved the Double Knit blend … that would be a really good breakfast blend, I think. This one is a good “kick in the butt” tea whenever you need one of those.

I’ve tried the Caravan long ago, when it was part of the 3rd limited edition series. I am not sure how the Caravan Resurrected compares to that, but when I did try it, I was still very anti-smoky teas, so I wasn’t too fond of it. I have the Caravan Resurrected (as it was part of the group of three that were available on Cyber Monday), and I’m hoping I will have a new found appreciation of it.

The Hot Tea on the High Seas is limited edition series 5 (I think!) and I did try both of those teas. They are amazing. I especially love the Oolong as it is a Magnolia Oolong – it’s fantastic. Captain Assam is an exceptionally smooth Assam, if I remember correctly, and perhaps a bit less harsh than some other Assam teas that I’ve tried. It’s not quite as “kick you in the butt” as this Tiger Assam is. Both are stellar, in my opinion.

@Amy oh: Yes I do. I also think that with this company, you’re not just paying for the tea but also the overall experience. The tins are beautiful, solid, and airtight. You get a bonus button with this particular tea … not a huge deal, but, I think it’s part of the fun.

However, given that this is one of the very best Assam teas I’ve ever tried, I’d say it’s worth the investment. That doesn’t mean that I don’t wait until they have a promotion, because I generally do. I purchased this as part of their Cyber Monday deal that they had going on, which was a 20% discount, and covered the cost of my shipping on the three tins of tea.

Thanks! I read your review of the Malty Assam from Tao of Tea. I can see why you rated Assams from A&D, SST, ZTL & Arbor Teas higher than it. Since Arbor Teas no longer offers Rembeng Assam, how does their Organic Greenfield Estate Ceylon Black Tea compare to it as well as the SST & ZTL Assams? Thank you.

Since I don’t have any more of the Greenfield Estate tea, and it’s been a while since I’ve had it, it would be difficult for me to offer a proper analysis for it now. However I will say that Greenfield Estate is an EXCEPTIONAL Ceylon, and I’d recommend it to anyone who enjoys black teas. However, how it would compare to an Assam … since they are two different teas … and given the time that has lapsed since my last tasting of the tea … it would be difficult for me to offer a fair comparison.

I told Sil yesterday that I would experience the mystic powers of the Tiger this morning as my breakfast tea. This is all thanks to her and the generous sample she sent my way after I told her how curious I was to try this legend of a tea. Now I just found out she ran out herself, sad face…that goes to show her generosity and willingness to share. Thank you so much Sil!

I understand all the hype around this tea now.

A true rough on the edges lumberjack would not shy away from this tea. But it’s also good for us Canadian women, remember, we do like ourselves a strong cup in the morning! In general, I don’t want too finicky and complicated early in the morning, I want a hard worker that takes its job seriously, aiming to please ME!!!

It’s a rich bold and malty cup. But there’s zero bitterness to it, mellow and sweet, yet, strong and powerful.

Even as it cooled down, it remained as smooth as a baby’s derriere ;-)

On the list it goes, it will make a perfect everyday kick me in the petuli Assam!

I am such a fan of Andrews & Dunham in general, I can’t tell you how much my fingers are itching to hop over to their web site and order some of this. But I fear the slippery slope of tea ordering justification. Sigh.

they have a new tea as well that is pretty good. I also like their smokey tea but the quantitity would take me forever to get through.. I keep meaning to email them to see if i can custom make a 3 pack and include the new tea instead of the EG

I’m working on cleaning and reorganizing everything in my tiny apartment, I started about a week ago and am tackling tiny projects each day.

Last night I found a bag of what I thought was palm sugar (at like 1:30 am) and put it in the kitchen to have with my tea today. Except. It wasn’t palm sugar. It felt weird as I put a couple pinches into my tea, and I realized it was bamboo flavoured salt.

That was a no. That was a BIG no.

So I made another cup, and added some real, regular sugar to it. And some coconut milk. And I’m still drinking it.

I once baked about 200 caramel shortbread heart-shaped cookies to take to school for Valentine’s Day. I baked them the night before and was planning to put the finishing touches on them in the morning. I was running late, so I just arranged them on a huge platter and tossed sprinkles and granulated sugar all over the top. Or did I? Turns out I sprinkled a whole bunch of salt over the top instead of sugar. Luckily, they still tasted pretty good as long as you gave the cookie a quick shake-off before eating them :)

Tea of the morning. I woke up an hour before my alarm was set to go off, and my mind began whirling with all of the things I need/want to get accomplished this week. Oy. Since it was obvious I wasn’t going back to sleep, and because my cat noticed I was awake and began meowing incessantly, I decided to get out of bed and enjoy some Tiger Assam.

Love the depth of this tea. It’s so full of malt and rich raisin-y sweetness. If I have to be awake before my alarm orders me out of bed then this is the tea I want in my cup.

Preparation

My cat sits on my chest and licks my nose, and then when I finally open my eyes, she starts running in between the food cupboard and the bed with a look that says “Oh well, since you are awake, you might as well feed me”
Cats… :)

I’ve had a hell of a week. A chronic illness has been seriously bullying me since last Saturday; my writing is a hard slog; the dayjob took every drop of blood out of me; I needed to get groceries on the way home; I arrived home late, supper-less, grumpy, and in a muck sweat, put away the groceries, then did a good half hour of heavy cleaning in the basement. Done that, I was in a foul temper.

And then I saw a rock band (Caravan) and a tiger on my dining room table.

Things are looking up.

The dry leaf is dark and rich-looking, with only the occasional fleck of amber. The leaves are long and smell damp-earthy for an Assam, but in a very good way. The liquor is reddish-brown, almost as reddish as a good Keemun. Aroma is winy rather than malty, with some cocoa and plum notes. Medium to heavy body, smooth mouthfeel, mineral start and finish with sweet malt and again, a slightly winey finish. A really good Assam — though I long for the Captain (ahem). Some surprising but pleasing buttery notes as I get further down the cup. Some malty pucker, too.

Tiger Assam is restoring my good will. Seriously, I’ve got this tea-dork smile on. And I got a button to put on my jacket with my order.

I was expecting this one for a long time now…I remember all (almost !) Terri’s notes about this tea and the picture of this proud and bold Tiger inside a tea circle…I love the pic, would I love the tea ?

JustJames kindly sent me a sample of this precious assam, thank you so much to introduce this tiger in my kitchen. This is an assam so I was a little worried, sometimes some of them are just too bold, too strong for me especially because of bitterness.
I stupidely left it steep more than 4 minutes because I was baking an ham and olive cake…I generally let assams steeping for 2 minutes not more.

This is too bitter for me but it’s my fault. Having said that i know that with 2 min steeping I will love because even if I find it too bitter for me, it’s not so bitter and I love the maltyness and the depth taste of this assam.
It’s midnight here – yes I’m crazy to drink an assam at midnight especially this one ! I’m sure this is a tea I would like with a splash of milk as well and particularly on the morning for sure.

You know when you drink a tea a lot, then you have it one day and it is totally and completely different then what it was before. So weird…

Today I am getting almost a cherry like sweetness on top of the bold and malty assam. There is no astringency. And I almost hate to say it, no tiger… It is light and bold at the same time. A lot more sweetness then I usually recognize in this tea. I just finished eating some Harvest Crunch cereal, but I can’t see why that would make this tea taste so much different.